Lower-hybrid wave collapse

Abstract

The formation, collapse and arrest of lower-hybrid wave packets are investigated analytically. The three-dimensional structure of the wave packet is incorporated in the analysis and its polarization is studied for the first time. Nonlinear collapse thresholds are obtained via a Hamiltonian formulation and are used in calculating the probability distribution of collapsing wave packet structures as a function of their polarization. Transit-time interaction theory is then used to calculate the arrest scale at which collapse is halted as the waves are damped. It is found that collapse thresholds are lowest for circularly polarized packets, but that nearly linearly polarized ones predominate in collapse because of their greater numbers in the linear phase of the evolution. It is argued that subsonic collapse persists until very near arrest, in accord with recent numerical simulations. Time scale analysis shows that the parallel field structure has difficulty in attaining its self-similar form in the available collapse time, also in accord with simulations. Transit-time theory implies that electrons travelling roughly parallel to the ambient magnetic field can arrest collapse at a scale comparable to that previously estimated for ions; which process dominates depends on the electron and ion temperatures and packet geometry. The resulting arrest scales are found to be in accord with the simulations.